The Web site of the Springfield News-Leader has a tile that presents it as a quiz:
However, the title gets more to the point: These 16 television shows, movies are set in Missouri — but were they filmed here?
The majority of the series [Ozark] is set in the dark, ominous Ozarks, but critics didn’t hesitate to point out that hardly any of the episodes were filmed in Missouri. The majority of the series was filmed in Georgia, according to IMDb. As for the lake scenes, most of these were filmed at Lake Allatoona, a reservoir similarly shaped to the Lake of the Ozarks about 45 minutes northwest of Atlanta.
In recent years, “Ozark” may have been at the top of people’s minds when it came to how Missouri was showcased by Hollywood, but there have been several other award-winning television shows and movies set in the Show Me State — some of which, like “Ozark” weren’t actually filmed here.
Perhaps the journalist is disappointed that she does not have the opportunity to see stars on location, but the article points out that Georgia ladles tax breaks and incentives on production companies. One wonders if this is supposed to serve as a call to action for Missouri to also ladle out tax money so Shia LeBeouf can fly in and film for a couple of days before flying out.
However, since it was presented as a quiz, I must ask myself: How did I do? The sixteen from the article are:
- The Act
- Sharp Objects
- Three Billboards Outside Ebbings, Missouri
- American Honey
- Gone Girl
- Switched at Birth
- Winter’s Bone
- Up in the Air
- Waiting for Guffman
- Road House
- Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
- National Lampoon’s Vacation
- Paper Moon
- Meet Me In St. Louis
I’ve seen five of sixteen.
The list skews to recent and to piss-on-Missouri stories and includes a number of entries where a scene nominally appears in Missouri in a larger travel film. Coincidentally, the latter overlap a lot with the films on the list I’ve seen.
The journalist does disclaim:
Note: There have been countless television shows and movies set and filmed in Missouri. This list is not exhaustive.
However, if one goes to the AUTHORITY (the Wikipedia entry Films set in Missouri), one sees this pretty much is the pattern: Piss on Missouri or just passing through. Guardians of the Galaxy? Deep Impact? I have seen these films, and they might have a scene in Missouri, but to say they’re set in Missouri is a stretch.
I am glad to see One Night At McCool’s is listed. But Larger than Life is not. The latter falls in the “Passing through” category, with a scene in Kansas City, and something that was filmed in St. Louis–Mike and Todd, both veteran actors of The Courtship of Barbara Holt, were extras in a scene that did not make the final feature.
At any rate, I’m not much into movies, books, or articles that piss on the heartland or where the writer is from (after the writer has moved to the big time). So I probably won’t watch Winter’s Bone (although I did just check movie accumulation posts to make sure I hadn’t already bought the DVD somewhere) but I do have the book in the stacks somewhere (I ordered it from ABC Books during the LOCKDOWN).
Winter’s Bone was actually really good, but very dark. I wouldn’t really class it as “pissing on Missouri”. It’s just a movie about poor white trash.
Paper Moon you absolutely should see. It’s a wonderful, wonderful film.
As far as Winter’s Bone goes, I tend to lump stories that paint residents of a region, especially of flyover regions, in a particularly gritty and unflattering light into the “piss on” category. I’ve only read The Maid’s Version by Woodrell, so I cannot speak to his whole oeuvre, but I’m suspicious of any regional author who becomes successful to a wider literary crowd (see also Willa Cather).
Maybe if I were to delve deeply and find heroic characters in Woodrell’s work.
I know, I’m painting with a broad brush, but. Well, I guess there’s nothing after the but. I do have Winter’s Bone in the book and perhaps the film form(s) somewhere, so I’ll get to them eventually, I hope.